Saw Joseph - for the first time (this production) - on Friday night. Very entertaining, wonderfully staged in line with the 91 production. Great to see this production back as the kenwright tour is really a cheap insult. Lee Mead performed well considering that he obviously was suffering from a throat infection - not surprising that he didn't appear on Saturday. The highlight of the night however was the performance given by Jenna Lee James as the narrator. I've not seen the role played with such vigor and presence since the days of Ria Jones. Jenna blew everyone else of the stage - her range and timbre was increadible. She looked stunning. Glad to have caught this performance. One to watch!!!! Would have been great to have seen her in Evita but I'm sure this girl will appear as the green witch at some point.

Saw her a few weeks back and am sorry to say, but she was absolutely horrendous. Besides shouting all of her lines, she was grinning and snarling all the way through at the children. Yikes! Definitely overacting in almost all her scenes and thus was a major disappointment to me. Not a patch on Fiona Reyes, the alternate Narrator, who I thought to be delightful. Not to mention good old Linzi Hateley.

Jenna's amazing as the narrator when I went to see this she totally stole the show.

As far as I know I don't think she's been in Evita, I did however see her 6times in We Will Rock You where her acting was better but her voice was definately better in Joseph.

Love Jenna! I thoughht she was amazing when I saw it!

Sorry to see you didn't like the performance but 'horrendous' is very ott. Technically she never 'shouted' at the performance I saw - this isn't even a musical description. In my humble opinion as a trained musician she added an edge that has been lacking for many years. I worked on the tour (many years ago) with Ria Jones and then Lisa Peace who both gave very good, but very different performances. Everyone won't be satisfied all the time and I'm sure Fiona does give a delightful performance - I've never seen her so can't comment, however I would rather be excited by an electric performance such as this one than see a safe performance given by too many recent narrators. As for overacting..........come on - it was Joseph was coloured sheep, a fake Elvis and the London Eye! My opinion only.

I think Jenna has an amazing voice but don't think she's the star of the show! I think there are four fantastic principal actors Lee, Dean, Stephen and Jenna supported by a very talented cast. Ricky is a good understudy for "Joseph" and Fiona Reyes is a fabulous alternate "Narrator"

Saw the show tonight, Jenna was fantastic. She's the reason I bought the ticket (Lee in a loin cloth was just a bonus) and she didn't dissapoint. She still had a hint of the 'rock chick' vibe as well, I like!!

yeah, sorry but have to disagree. could not stand jennas performance, she gurns her way through the scenes, quite embarrassingly!
she acts like a child.
she shouts continuously. she has no middle voice, its all loud loud loud.
She gets away with this but for someone who has an alternate i expect she would, she certainly did not with rock you, hence them asking her to leave at the end of contract. her voice could not hack it anymore, and before this thread turns into a how do you know thing- i just do. i know the people in the building, and a lot of the people in the creative team also.
not that it matters to this thread- but i juts don't understand the hype about jenna.
and i can assure you- she will not be playing the green witch! she's not capable of it.

I went to watch Joseph at the Adelphi in November.

The production was excellent. However, I found the narrator (Jenna Lee James) to be too provocative and slutty. She kept winking at the crowd, and it was very in appropriate, he dress was incredibly short and it was not required especially since she was around so many children. She was a fantastic singer, but I think the play should be more about Joseph and we did not require the dramatics that Jenna provided with her constant facial expression, and winking, it was just too slutty. The narrator should be there just to provide the set up and let Joseph do the rest. Listening to her sing was amazing, but watching her was a bit cringeful, she should be put at the side of the stage.

i found her to be totally inappropriate too.
her voice which is totally untrained (by her admittance) was too shrill. she shouts all the numbers and acts with her face constantly, trying to push the lead to the side in a way.
the musical is about joseph not the narrator and i prefer the gentle stance of linzi hately for example.
some may love jennas voice, i think its terrible.
i'm at a stage school at the mo- full time, and i went with my class and they all agreed.
too much vibrato, too much volume. our singing teacher used her as an example of what NOT to sing like!

Glad to see I wasn't the only one to dislike her over the top performance. At least we've got Fiona Reyes as alternate and she's simply wonderful!

I do think Jenna has an amazing voice and she can really belt out the tunes but for me, I prefer Fiona's portrayal of the Narrator. She is much more subtle and interacts well with the children. She's more believable as the teacher.

Jenna is more of a rocky Narrator which some people do enjoy, I just think sometimes it overpowers the show.

When I saw the show earlier this year Jenna was the highlight in a dull show. To be fair Lee wasn't on and we had some bloke who'd been in that Any Dream Will Do competition and I did enjoy it as Joseph was my fav childhood musical but then I'd heard mixed reviews and Jenna was the only reason I went. I've seen her perform several times and she's a very facial actor although I do agree that as the narrator it's not needed so much and as for her costume surely it's what she's told to wear?
Also someone mentioned that she won't be playing the green witch and I agree, acting wise she'd be perfect but her voice isn't suited to the part but then lets be honest no one is suited to every part.

The production features a man in shorts stripped to the waist by an aggressive and predatory female in what is clearly an act of sexual harrassment and you're fine with that, but you object to the dress worn by Jenna Lee James because it's too short? Sounds like a little post-hoc justification to me.

Thought the narrator looked stunning - loved her performance. Big voice. Sorry i've not seen her in anything else. It was Jenna Lee James.

Jenna's voice is absolutely perfect, beautiful, amazing and takes your breath away. When I heard Jenna sing in Joseph I was stunned. She took my breath away. Such a beautiful voice. That is what all the 'hype' is all about. We love your voice, Jenna. I am now such a huge fan after hearing Jenna sing. Lee. xxxx

I was at the dec 31st performance. Thought JLJ was very good vocally ( apart from the line "could be a star" which everytime became "could be assssarrrghhhh!" causing us much entertainment!) , but I found her facial expressions distracting, a bit too stage school ish. I know Joseph is completely over the top, but personally, I much preferred seeing Fiona Reyes earlier in the year, who I felt was a lot more natural.

Its only my opinion, but I prefer it when the narrator joins in with the fun but is a little more restrained and leaves the OTT hamming to the rest of the cast. I did enjoy JLJ's performance,but found myself missing Fiona in the role.